The Texas Tribune: PEOPLEhttp://www.texastribune.org/people/The latest articles about PEOPLEen-usSun, 02 Aug 2015 12:04:32 -0500Analysis: A Make-or-Break Moment for Paxtonhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/08/02/analysis-make-or-break-moment-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/07/29/7C2A2738_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton testifies on July 29, 2015, before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on an investigation into Planned Parenthood&#39;s practices.">
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<p>Going to jail can kill a political career. An indictment, not so much.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ken Paxton</a>&rsquo;s situation is different. The state&rsquo;s Republican attorney general is not under fire for his actions as a state official or as a candidate for office. This is about his business career.</p>
<p>Paxton, an attorney with interests in dozens of business ventures, stands <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/08/01/reports-paxton-indicted-collin-county-grand-jury/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">accused</a> of securities fraud in a three-count sealed indictment <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us/grand-jury-indicts-texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-on-felony-charges.html">detailed</a> for <i>The New York Times</i> by special prosecutor Kent Schaffer this weekend. That indictment is expected to be unsealed Monday in Collin County.</p>
<p>That private angle takes some of the political sheen off of the case. Paxton&rsquo;s pugnacious publicist, Anthony Holm, has characterized the investigation as a politically driven attempt by inexperienced prosecutors trying to bring down the relatively new attorney general.</p>
<p>On the surface, however, the charges don&rsquo;t appear to have anything to do with politics. Paxton, according to Schaffer, will face a third-degree felony charge of failing to register with state securities regulators and two first-degree charges of securities fraud for steering investors to Servergy Inc. without telling them he was paid to do so, and for misrepresenting himself as a fellow investor.</p>
<p>Another prominent Texas Republican found himself in a similar pickle almost a year ago. Then-Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Rick Perry</a> was <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/tribpedia/perry-indictment/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">indicted</a> on two counts &mdash; one has since been <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/24/appeals-court-rejects-one-count-perry-indictment/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">erased</a> by an appeals judge &mdash; related to his effort to force Travis County&rsquo;s district attorney out of office. Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, was arrested on a DWI charge, pleaded guilty and served jail time &mdash; all without resigning from office.</p>
<p>Perry said she should go and threatened to veto the state funding for ethics prosecutions by her office if she refused. She refused. He vetoed the funds. A special prosecutor appointed by a visiting judge took the case to a grand jury, which decided the governor had abused his powers to make Lehmberg act the way he wanted.</p>
<p>The outcry when Perry was indicted &mdash; as well as during the lead-up to that indictment &mdash; was loud and partisan. It has remained that way ever since, with Republicans blasting the criminal justice system in Democratic Travis County for trying to use the courts to do what they couldn&rsquo;t get done at the polls.</p>
<p>Much of the political class jumped to the governor&rsquo;s defense, including a lot of people in politics and the punditocracy who ordinarily disagree with him.</p>
<p>Paxton? Not so much. A former member of the House and Senate, he is one of a pack of Republicans swept into statewide office in November, replacing a veteran group of officeholders.</p>
<p>The charges against Paxton originally came up during the Republican primary for attorney general, and were revived by the liberal-leaning Texans for Public Justice, which urged Austin prosecutors to have a deeper look. They passed, but referred the case to Collin County. The district attorney there, a friend and sometimes business associate of Paxton&rsquo;s, recused himself. The special prosecutors appointed in his place, with investigatory help from the Texas Rangers, obtained the indictments he faces now.</p>
<p>Perry drew a mob of defenders. Paxton has plenty of friends, political allies and supporters, but the comparative silence is remarkable. It clearly has not been received as a political prosecution so far.</p>
<p>Paxton, like some predecessors, might find that this makes him stronger in the end. An indictment is just an allegation. Sometimes, the result is a conviction and punishment. Sometimes, the legal fight is a political stimulant.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/kay-bailey-hutchison/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Kay Bailey Hutchison</a> was indicted and acquitted and it made her politically invincible for more than a decade. She remained a voter favorite through three terms in the U.S. Senate, faltering only when she challenged Perry in the Republican primary in 2010. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/jim-mattox/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Jim Mattox</a>, a Democrat indicted during his first year as the state&rsquo;s attorney general (sound familiar) was also acquitted. He was re-elected once and almost got the Democratic nomination for governor, losing a runoff to <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ann-w-richards/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ann Richards</a> in 1990.</p>
<p>Contrast that with <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/dan-morales/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Dan Morales</a>, the former Texas attorney general who went to federal prison for charges that evolved from his conduct in the state&rsquo;s litigation against some of the world&rsquo;s biggest tobacco companies. Morales, a Democrat, was also a rising star. But his conviction and prison time ended any hope he might have had for another public office.</p>
<p>Each of them claimed politics was at the core of their prosecution, with varying degrees of success. In the end, none won the political battle without winning the legal one.</p>
<p>Now Paxton will take a turn in the dock. Acquittal could boost his political career. A conviction would end it.</p>
Ross RamseySun, 02 Aug 2015 12:04:32 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/08/02/analysis-make-or-break-moment-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsAnalysis: Deflection by Officials is Worth Notinghttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/30/analysis-diversionary-tactics/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>Diversions seem to be the order of the day.</p>
<p>Attorney General <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ken Paxton</a> is ducking questions about the proceedings of a Collin County grand jury that is considering allegations that he committed felony security violations as a private attorney.</p>
<p>Paxton has not been eager to comment on that, but he did make a very public appearance before a legislative committee looking into secretly recorded videos of Planned Parenthood honchos saying remarkably [insert your preferred adjective here] things about abortions and the use of fetal tissues. And a spokesman has <a href="http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/opinion/impartiality-in-ken-paxton-prosecution-is-impossib/nm6Q2/">earnestly declaimed</a> the merits of the people and process that delivered it to the grand jury.</p>
<p>Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a> is turning talk about <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CB0QFjAAahUKEwiBie-E8oHHAhVBrB4KHQrdDDM&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.texastribune.org%2F2015%2F07%2F21%2Fabbotts-budget-vetoes-questioned-lbb%2F&amp;ei=BJe5VYH3K8HYeoq6s5gD&amp;usg=AFQjCNEC0qlkjP7lf_cdI4PLexI8vXaO8A&amp;bvm=bv.99028883,d.dmo">potentially unconstitutional</a> budget vetoes into a <a href="http://www.gregabbott.com/keep-common-core-out/">fundraising appeal</a> based on his opposition to Common Core &mdash; a national standard for public school curriculum. Maybe that seems like a leap, but it&rsquo;s more of a 90-degree turn: One of the vetoes would cancel state funding to an organization that Abbott believes is a supporter of that program.</p>
<p>Instead of talking about indictments and vetoes, those two state officeholders are talking about abortion and education.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s neither wrong nor unusual, but the deflection is worth noting. To be fair, Anthony Holm, speaking for Paxton, has been a quote machine, flaying the special prosecutors as both inexperienced at what they&rsquo;re doing now and somewhat shady for their regular business as criminal defense attorneys.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Normally, seasoned prosecutors are appointed to aid investigations,&rdquo; he wrote in <a href="http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/opinion/impartiality-in-ken-paxton-prosecution-is-impossib/nm6Q2/" target="_blank">an opinion piece</a> for the <i>Austin American-Statesman</i>. &ldquo;Instead, these two defense lawyers have built incredibly lucrative practices defending people charged with crimes, including drug and child sex crimes &mdash; the very type of criminal Attorney General Paxton tries to put in prison. One wonders about the impartiality of the appointed special prosecutors when their trade is defending those charged with the most heinous of crimes.&rdquo;</p>
<p>One wonders why you would attack the people taking your case to a grand jury if you thought you had a chance of getting out of there without an indictment, too. By the way, one of the ne&rsquo;er do wells represented by special prosecutor Brian Wice was Thomas Dale DeLay, the former U.S. House majority leader who, after a long, long fight, was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/us/politics/conviction-of-delay-in-texas-donation-case-is-overturned.html">acquitted</a> of charges related to campaign finance in the 2003 campaigns.</p>
<p>And another thing, if you forgot this page from your civics book: A Texas attorney general is a civil lawyer who handles criminal cases only occasionally and at the request of local district attorneys. They appear as crime-fighters mainly in their dreams and in their campaign advertisements.</p>
<p>But this is politics, and the Planned Parenthood videos have become a national story. That makes it easier for Paxton to swap headlines he likes for headlines he doesn&rsquo;t.</p>
<p>The governor&rsquo;s diversion is not the same. He&rsquo;s not in trouble, for one thing, and it rarely hurts a governor to flog the legislature or a state bureaucracy. Abbott <a href="http://gov.texas.gov/files/press-office/appropriations_budget_itemvetos_06202015.pdf">vetoed</a> more than $200 million from the state budget he signed last month. It&rsquo;s a piddling amount against the $209.4 billion in spending outlined in that budget, but it started a shoving match over the governor&rsquo;s veto powers.</p>
<p>The Legislative Budget Board, co-chaired by the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House, sent a memo to the state comptroller questioning whether Abbott has the constitutional power to veto most of the items he specified. It&rsquo;s a technical argument over what constitutes an &ldquo;item of appropriation.&rdquo; And it&rsquo;s an argument over political power &mdash; where the Legislature&rsquo;s power stops and the governor&rsquo;s begins when it comes to the budget.</p>
<p>Lt. Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/dan-patrick/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Dan Patrick</a> somewhat surprisingly <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/23/patrick-my-office-didnt-start/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">sided</a> with the governor and blasted the director of the LBB for sending the memo, even though one of his top aides had <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/24/emails-patricks-office-did-not-object-veto-memo/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">signed off</a> on it.</p>
<p>The veto story isn&rsquo;t over: State Rep. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/trey-martinez-fischer/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Trey Martinez Fischer</a>, D-San Antonio, <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/texas_legislature/article/Martinez-Fischer-urges-mayor-city-council-to-6403986.php">wrote</a> a letter to San Antonio officials there encouraging them to challenge the veto of funds for replacement of a government building there. Abbott suggested in his veto proclamation that the project needed more study.</p>
<p>Rather than haggle over that, Abbott&rsquo;s political office jumped into high gear to talk about his veto of state dues to the Southern Regional Education Board. &ldquo;RT to support my veto of Common Core funding &amp; needless spending that Austin Bureaucrats are trying to reinstate,&rdquo; he tweeted last week, linking to a petition on his campaign website.</p>
<p>That ignores the legislators who approved the spending in the first place, by overwhelming margins in both the House and the Senate. Not to mention the source of the memo questioning his power: a budget agency overseen by top lawmakers from both chambers.</p>
<p>It could change the subject to his advantage, though: What Texas lawmaker wants to defend Common Core?</p>
<p><em>Disclosure: Planned Parenthood was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2011.&nbsp;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">here</a>.</em></p>
Ross RamseyThu, 30 Jul 2015 06:00:00 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/30/analysis-diversionary-tactics/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsDetained Immigrant Families Face Uncertaintyhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/28/despite-judges-ruling-questions-remain-detained-im/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>More than 2,000 undocumented women and children being held in "deplorable" conditions at federal immigration detention centers are supposed to be released under a recent federal judge's order. But how long that takes and what happens to them next remains unclear, attorneys say.</p>
<p>Late Friday, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee admonished the Obama administration for detaining thousands of undocumented immigrants from Central America in violation of a 1997&nbsp;legal<strong>&nbsp;</strong>settlement requiring&nbsp;that undocumented&nbsp;juveniles be<strong>&nbsp;</strong>held in the&nbsp; &ldquo;least restrictive setting appropriate to their age and special needs to ensure their protection and wellbeing,&rdquo; according to an analysis by the <a href="http://immigrantchildren.org/Flores_Case.html">Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law</a>.</p>
<p>Gee ordered that the women and children detained in Karnes City and Dilley, Texas, be released as soon as possible. (A smaller facility in Pennsylvania is also being used.) The administration has until Monday to respond to Gee&rsquo;s order, and 90 days to appeal her ruling.<span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><br /></span></p>
<p><span><span>&ldquo;We are disappointed with the court&rsquo;s decision and are reviewing it in consultation with the Department of Justice,&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;the Department of Homeland Security&nbsp;said in a statement on Friday.<span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p><span>The agency didn&rsquo;t respond to a follow-up email asking how the agency planned to move forward,&nbsp;or whether the families, if released, would be required to wear electronic monitoring devices or be released on bond.&nbsp;For now, attorneys working to free the immigrants say their job is far from over.<strong><br /></strong></span></p>
<p>"[We] will keep sending lawyers down to Texas until they are not needed anymore,&rdquo; said Rachel B. Tiven, the executive director of the New York-based <span>Immigrant Justice Corps</span>, which recruits and trains attorneys to handle pro bono immigration cases.&nbsp;<span>The IJC has trained 35 attorneys who rotate in<strong>&nbsp;</strong>two-weeks shifts in Dilley and Karnes. Thirty-five more will begin their rotations in September.</span></p>
<p>&ldquo;We need to see that 4-year-olds and their mothers are not in jail in South Texas before we stop,&rdquo; Tiven said.</p>
<p>Tiven and her colleagues want to ensure the families are given clear explanations of&nbsp;their rights once released. Undocumented immigrants face a number of options &mdash; and punishments &mdash; as they move forward with their cases. Pursuing legal status can range from seeking asylum to requesting that a case be administratively closed, also known as prosecutorial discretion.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Salda&ntilde;a dated July 27, CARA,&nbsp;a coalition of members from&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.raicestexas.org/" target="_blank">Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://cliniclegal.org/" target="_blank">Catholic Legal Immigration Network</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/" target="_blank">American Immigration Council</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aila.org/">American Immigration Lawyers Association</a>, reiterated its request that ICE offer daily&nbsp;briefings&nbsp;to the women before&nbsp;they&nbsp;are&nbsp;released.</p>
<p>"The purpose of such presentations would be to explain reporting obligations, the importance of appearing for all scheduled appearances, the need to file an asylum application in advance of the one-year filing deadline, the individuals&rsquo; rights and obligations, and how to connect with pro bono attorneys in their cities of destination," the coalition wrote.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Unlike the criminal justice system, in which defendants are guaranteed counsel if they can&rsquo;t afford it, immigrants in detention are not afforded that right.&nbsp;And even with an attorney, getting legal advice isn&rsquo;t guaranteed.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Lawyers can&rsquo;t get access to their clients in a regular way, and women are being released without legal information they need about what their supposed to do next,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Women are still in jeopardy of being treated unfairly.&rdquo;</p>
<p>She said she&rsquo;s heard reports of women being told they &ldquo;absolutely&rdquo; have to wear an ankle monitor despite having an order from a judge that says they don&rsquo;t have to.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They are really being intimidated,&rdquo; she said.</p>
<p>But even limited access can mean a world of difference. Immigrants with attorneys are five times more likely to win an asylum case or another judgment allowing them to remain in the country legally compared with those without legal help,&nbsp;according to the IJC website.</p>
<p>The detention centers were created in response to a surge of undocumented immigrants who flooded the Rio Grande Valley last summer. About 50,000&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-border-unaccompanied-children-2014">unaccompanied children</a>&nbsp;were caught or surrendered to border agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector in fiscal year 2014,&nbsp;and overall about 68,600 unaccompanied minors were apprehended along the southwest border. And about 68,400 family units were apprehended in 2014 on the southwest border, including about 52,300 in the Rio Grande Valley.&nbsp;</p>
Julián AguilarTue, 28 Jul 2015 06:00:00 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/28/despite-judges-ruling-questions-remain-detained-im/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsCourt to Houston: Put Antidiscrimination Ordinance on Ballot or Repeal Ithttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/24/tx-supreme-court-rules-repeal-hero/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p dir="ltr"><span>The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Houston City Council must repeal or put up for public&nbsp;vote a 2014 ordinance that extended protections to gay and transgender residents.</span></p>
<p>The court directed the council to repeal the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, better known as&nbsp;HERO, by Aug. 24 or place it on the November ballot. Passed after an intense public debate, the ordinance expanded the city&rsquo;s ban on discrimination to include protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity at businesses that serve the public. The protections also apply to city contractors and municipal workers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The passage of the ordinance was met by challenges from conservative activists and pastors who led a petition drive calling for a referendum or a repeal. But city officials ruled that those efforts failed to draw enough signatures.&nbsp;Opponents of the ordinance then took the issue to the courts, alleging in a lawsuit that the city inappropriately disqualified some of the signatures.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In April, a state district judge ruled in favor of the city, saying opponents of the ordinance had not gathered enough valid signatures for a referendum.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>But in its Friday decision, the Supreme Court&nbsp;<span>directed the council &ldquo;to comply with its duties&rdquo; in considering a valid referendum petition.</span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;The legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored,&rdquo; the Supreme Court wrote in its opinion.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">Houston Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement that the city council would move forward in reconsidering the ordinance, but she noted that she will consult with legal counsel "on any possible actions."</p>
<p dir="ltr">"No matter the color of your skin, your age, gender, physical limitations, or sexual orientation, every Houstonian deserves the right to be treated equally," Parker said. "To do otherwise, hurts Houston&rsquo;s well-known image as a city that is tolerant, accepting, inclusive and embracing of its diversity."</p>
<p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, Republican state leaders celebrated the ruling as a win for religious liberty.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"Today&rsquo;s decision by the Texas Supreme Court appropriately returns jurisdiction over this matter to voters while reassuring the people of Houston that their personal values remain beyond the reach of government,&rdquo; Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a> said in a statement.<br /></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>For years, Texas Democrats have unsuccessfully pushed for statewide nondiscrimination laws, leaving the state with a patchwork of local protections against discrimination in employment, housing and other public areas like buses and restaurants.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>At least </span><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2013/09/18/comparing-nondiscrimination-ordinances/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><span>nine Texas cities with a population of more than 100,000</span></a><span> have passed nondiscrimination rules.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>For at least a decade, cities like Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth have had ordinances offering lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents some degree of protection against discrimination. Houston, San Antonio and Plano joined that list in the last two years.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>After the U.S. Supreme Court handed the LGBT community a monumental win when it legalized same-sex marriage, national and state gay rights leaders said last month that their next battle will be </span><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/29/gay-activists-next-fight-discrimination-protection/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><span>pushing for more discrimination protections</span></a><span> for LGBT people.</span></p>
Alexa UraFri, 24 Jul 2015 11:19:52 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/24/tx-supreme-court-rules-repeal-hero/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsPerry Rips Trump in Washington Speechhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/22/rick-perry-donald-trump-dc/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>WASHINGTON &mdash; Showing no desire to step back from his clash with fellow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, former Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Rick Perry</a> on Wednesday unleashed a torrent of insults about the billionaire, calling Trump a&nbsp;<span>"barking carnival act" and a "toxic mix of&nbsp;demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">During his speech at&nbsp;<span>a downtown hotel here</span>, Perry also described Trump as "a sower of discord," a scapegoater, a candidate who offers "empty platitudes and promises," and "a cancer on conservatism." He added that Trump "is&nbsp;wrongly demonizing Mexican-Americans for political sport" and is "the modern-day incarnation of the know-nothing movement."</span></p>
<p>The event was hosted by operatives from the Opportunity and Freedom PAC, which is supporting Perry.</p>
<p>Trump <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/22/politics/donald-trump-rick-perry/" target="_blank">has been sharply critical of Perry</a>, tweeting this week that the former Texas governor "did an absolutely horrible job of securing the border. He should be ashamed of himself."</p>
<p>Perry, a former Air Force pilot, <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/18/perry-wants-trump-out-presidential-race/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank">also blasted Trump again</a> for his recent comments about U.S. Sen. John McCain.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"Donald Trump was born into privilege. He received deferments to avoid service in Vietnam," Perry said. "He breathes the free air thousands of heroes died protecting. And he couldn&rsquo;t have endured for five minutes what John McCain endured for five and a half years."&nbsp;</p>
<p>Perry also tackled Trump on religious grounds for a comment Trump made on Saturday saying he did not seek God's forgiveness.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"A man too arrogant, too self-absorbed to seek God&rsquo;s forgiveness is precisely the type of leader John Adams prayed would never occupy the White House," Perry said.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">The former Texas governor took care to not direct his criticism at Republican supporters of Trump, who is currently at the top of national polling.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">"He&rsquo;s piqued the interest of some Republican voters who have legitimate concerns about a porous border and broken immigration system," Perry said. "But instead of offering those voters leadership or solutions, he has offered fear and soundbites. This cannot stand."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">Perry otherwise avoided shots at his fellow rivals for the GOP nomination. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">Beyond Trump, he made a broad case for conservative foreign and economic policies. But even in his criticisms of President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the remarks were ideological &mdash; not personal &mdash; in nature.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>In recent weeks, Perry seized the political opportunity that the Trump political conflagration has created. This protracted fight elevates Perry's tone to statesmanlike as he tries to rehabilitate his image after his disastrous 2012 presidential campaign.</p>
<p>But also, only the top 10 candidates in polling will qualify for the Aug. 6 Fox News debate. Perry's engagement with Trump, so far, has translated into an increase in television bookings and media coverage. He is showing <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/20/cruz-and-perry-tied-national-poll/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">a slight uptick</a> in recent polling.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">Prior to the speech, former state Rep. Kenn George, R-Dallas, participated in a panel and made the case for Perry's economic record in Texas.</span></p>
Abby LivingstonWed, 22 Jul 2015 16:03:43 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/22/rick-perry-donald-trump-dc/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsBarton is First Texas Congressman to Endorse Perryhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/17/perry-picks-first-texas-congressional-nod/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>WASHINGTON &ndash; U.S. Rep. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/joe-barton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Joe Barton</a>, the dean of the Texas congressional contingent, has become the first in the delegation to endorse former Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Rick Perry</a>'s presidential bid.</p>
<p>The nod from an old Perry college classmate, announced Friday, made clear what most political operatives suspected this presidential campaign: The Texas GOP delegation, a fearsome and united voting bloc in the House, would split its endorsements in the presidential campaign.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"During Gov. Perry's leadership, Texas set the national standard for economic growth and opportunity,&rdquo; the Ennis-based Barton said in a statement. &ldquo;The governor has a track record of proven executive leadership during challenging times, and that's the kind of experience we need in the White House.&rdquo; &nbsp;</p>
<p>"I have known Rick Perry since we were classmates at Texas A&amp;M University, and he has always been a man of character. Americans deserve the kind of principled leadership he would bring to Washington."</p>
<p>The Barton nod is not a total surprise. He was on the host committee for a Perry fundraiser in March in Fort Worth, and Barton&rsquo;s leadership PAC gave Perry $1,000 this past quarter. &nbsp;</p>
<p>In May, Perry&rsquo;s fellow Texan in the GOP nomination race, U.S. Sen. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ted-cruz/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ted Cruz</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/20/cruz-picks-four-texas-congressional-endorsements/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">announced</a>&nbsp;four congressional endorsements, from U.S. Reps. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/michael-burgess/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Michael Burgess</a>, R-Lewisville; <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/john-culberson/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">John Culberson</a>, R-Houston; <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/louie-gohmert/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Louie Gohmert</a>, R-Tyler; and <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/john-ratcliffe/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">John Ratcliffe</a>, R-Heath.</p>
Abby LivingstonFri, 17 Jul 2015 12:31:35 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/17/perry-picks-first-texas-congressional-nod/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsGhost of Export-Import Bank Haunts Highway Billhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/16/texans-ex-im-highway-bill/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/07/15/TT_Cruz_03_071515-sized_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Joined by Dave McIntosh (left), the president of the Washington, D.C-based Club for Growth, and U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz spoke at a July 15, 2015, news conference in front the U.S. Capitol to call on U.S. House and Senate leaders to eliminate any path for the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.">
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<p>WASHINGTON &ndash; Two weeks after it was supposedly&nbsp;killed, the ghost of the Export-Import Bank continues to haunt Capitol Hill.</p>
<p>Advocates of the bank, a federal agency that supports companies doing business abroad, are busy trying to resuscitate&nbsp;it&nbsp;by attaching reauthorization&nbsp;to a so-called must-pass bill that will help fund the nation&rsquo;s highway system.</p>
<p>But the&nbsp;bank has fierce adversaries on the Hill, including&nbsp;several&nbsp;from the Texas delegation. One,&nbsp;U.S. Sen. and Republican presidential aspirant&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ted-cruz/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ted Cruz</a>, essentially threatened&nbsp;to bring down the entire highway bill if needed&nbsp;to finish off the Ex-Im Bank,&nbsp;which officially&nbsp;expired on June 30, though it continues to operate finishing out its pending business.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">&ldquo;I am willing to use any and all procedural tools to stop this corporate welfare, this corruption from being propagated,&rdquo; Cruz said at </span><a style="line-height: 1.35;" href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/15/cruz-does-not-rule-out-another-filibuster/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">a news conference</a><span style="line-height: 1.35;"> in front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.</span><span style="line-height: 1.35;"> <br /></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35; color: #000000;">But by tucking the bank's renewal into a highway funding bill that most lawmakers support, the bank's backers hope to overcome the conservative blockade that has stymied efforts to keep it alive. Though it occupies a small niche in the federal government, it has become&nbsp;a lightning rod in conservative politics, serving as the current battleground between limited-government groups and business interests like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35; color: #000000;">The bank&nbsp;uses loan guarantees, insurance and other support&nbsp;to help American companies do business abroad.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>The House passed the highway funding measure Wednesday without the Ex-Im provision, but many Capitol Hill sources expect it to be added when the Senate takes up the bill in the coming days or weeks, setting up a showdown between the chambers. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35; color: #000000;"><span style="line-height: 1.35;">More than almost any other federal government program, constituents feel the effects of Highway Trust Fund from the moment they leave their houses each day and drive to work. In Texas alone, the federal government subsidized $3.3 billion worth of road construction and repairs in 2014.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p>Now that other major issues &mdash; the&nbsp;controversial Pacific Rim&nbsp;trade deal and a nuclear treaty with Iran &mdash;&nbsp;are in holding patterns until&nbsp;the fall, the most pressing issue for Congress is this reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund, now set to&nbsp;expire on July 31.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">But thanks to continual congressional gridlock and the ghost of&nbsp;&nbsp;Ex-Im, the&nbsp;legislation that will replenish the fund is creeping from &ldquo;must-pass&rdquo; to &ldquo;might-pass.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>If the highway bill returns from the Senate with the bank authorization included,&nbsp;House conservatives who oppose the bank, led by House Financial Services Chairman <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/jeb-hensarling/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Jeb Hensarling</a> of Dallas, are expected to pull out all the stops to take it back out again.</p>
<p>U.S. Rep. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/bill-flores/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Bill Flores</a>, R-Bryan, is <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/27/austin-flores-doesnt-mince-words-ex-im-bank/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">another vocal critic </a>of Ex-Im and appeared with Cruz at the morning press conference. He promised to "try&nbsp;to make sure that this never comes to the floor again, ever."&nbsp;</p>
<p>Bank advocates say that a majority of the House &mdash; Democrats and Republicans combined &mdash; would probably back the bank if given the chance to vote on it.&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.35;">And not all Texas Republicans despise it.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m for reforming the process," said U.S. Rep. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/pete-sessions/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Pete Sessions</a>, R-Dallas. "Not killing it.&rdquo;</span><span style="line-height: 1.35;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">Cruz entered the fray on Wednesday morning with his filibuster threat, which</span>&nbsp;like many of Cruz&rsquo;s tactics startled operatives and members. But most on Capitol Hill shrugged off the threat, pointing to <a href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&amp;session=1&amp;vote=00206#position">an early June vote</a> when 65 senators voted in favor of the bank &mdash; more than enough to break a filibuster.</p>
<p>Other Republicans scoffed at Cruz, speculating that his news conference had more to do with presidential campaign fundraising than Senate procedure.</p>
<p>And Ex-Im advocates blasted out press releases questioning the credibility of many of Cruz&rsquo;s charges against the bank.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Texas exports more than any other state for a reason: We have the best workers and businesses. And our businesses rely on a host of tools to continue growing and hiring, including the Export-Import Bank,&rdquo; the Texas Association of Businesses and the Texas Association of Manufacturers&nbsp;responded in a statement.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Senator Ted Cruz has failed to understand that and chooses, again and again, to put politics ahead of economic progress and payrolls for his constituents.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Still, there are mixed opinions&nbsp;whether Ex-Im will survive, or whether it could blow up the highway bill.</p>
<p>A Republican leadership source prognosticated a grim stretch ahead for the bank, while multiple Democratic sources in both chambers insisted the highway bill will return to the House with Ex-Im, and it will arrive on the president&rsquo;s desk.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see when it gets to here. I&rsquo;ve heard this,&rdquo; Sessions said of the Senate speculation on Ex-Im. &nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I do recognize that the Senate is more fired up than some of our House people have been, but they have to pass it first.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Patrick Svitek and John Jordan contributed to this report.</em></p>
<p><em><i>Disclosure: The Texas Association of Business was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2013. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&nbsp;</i><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/corporate-sponsors/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections#all-time"><i>here</i></a><i>.</i></em></p>
Abby LivingstonThu, 16 Jul 2015 06:00:00 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/16/texans-ex-im-highway-bill/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsIn Bastrop, Jade Helm Begins With a Whimperhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/15/bastrop-jade-helm-begins/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<img src="//s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/07/15/JadeHelm15-map004_jpg_312x1000_q100.jpg" alt="Operation Jade Helm 15, a military training exercise, begins Wednesday in 12 Texas counties: Bastrop, Burleson, Brazos, Edwards, Howard, Hudspeth, Kimble, Martin, Marion, Real, Schleicher and Tom Green. It will also take place at Camp Bullis in San Antonio and Camp Swift in Bastrop County.">
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<p>BASTROP &mdash;&nbsp;For four months, this pretty town along the Colorado River has been ground zero for rumors of a sweeping federal plot to disarm and round up American citizens.</p>
<p>But there was little evidence of continued anxiety over the military training exercise known as Jade Helm 15 as the operation got underway Wednesday.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I just think it&rsquo;s a bunch of hooey. All it takes is one person to get on the internet and say something,&rdquo; said Bud Sinclair, a retiree who sat drinking iced tea on the patio of a roadside restaurant along FM 1440 just outside of town.</p>
<p>The operation that military officials describe as a routine training exercise &mdash; and conspiracy theorists warned is a prelude to martial law and the wide-scale round-up of citizens, who would perhaps be warehoused in mysteriously closed Wal-Marts around the state &mdash; began in a dozen Texas counties and across the Southwest. It will continue through the summer.</p>
<p>It will involve 1,200 service members distributed across locations throughout several states. Some training is reportedly taking place on private land near Camp Swift, a former Army base built during World War II now owned by the Texas National Guard about eight miles from downtown Bastrop.</p>
<p>Fears over Jade Helm&rsquo;s launch reached a boiling point in April at a meeting of the Bastrop County Commissioners Court, when concerned citizens peppered a military spokesman with questions about the operation.</p>
<p>Shortly after the Bastrop meeting, Gov.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a> asked the Texas State Guard to keep an eye on the exercise to ensure Texans' "safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed.&rdquo; After Abbott&rsquo;s directive, which drew bipartisan criticism, hysteria over the possible military takeover exploded into the international spotlight. According to recent reports, the Texas State Guard will not be monitoring the operation from the field, but from Austin.</p>
<p>A group called Counter Jade Helm has also mobilized to serve as a watchdog, dispatching members to various sites of the operation and soliciting any information locals may have on how the exercise is going in their communities.</p>
<p>At the same time, it has been careful to distance itself from the seedier elements of the Jade Helm furor, branding itself as an effort to help the military's efforts, not thwart them.</p>
<p>"CJH is not about conspiracy theories," the group's website reads. "This exercise is not about the what-ifs of our government."</p>
<p>A call to Pete Lanteri, one of the group&rsquo;s leaders, was not returned.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, during an afternoon visit to the Camp Swift installation, the echoes of gunfire could be heard in the distance. But there were no obvious civilian monitors stationed there &mdash; except for several TV news trucks.</p>
<p>Asked about the start of the military exercise at the restaurant near town, Bastrop resident James Bradshaw said he wasn&rsquo;t worried.</p>
<p>&ldquo;If I see them in my backyard, they&rsquo;ll be some serious concern,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But so far I haven&rsquo;t seen much of them. I thought there was going to be a bunch of helicopters flying around.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Bradshaw scoffed at claims that Jade Helm was cover for a federal takeover.</p>
<p>"I&rsquo;m anti-Obama, but I don&rsquo;t think they are coming to take our guns away,&rdquo;&nbsp;said Bradshaw, sitting at the table with Sinclair. "I&rsquo;m a whole lot more worried about the U.N. coming in and taking over the Alamo than I am about the federal government coming in and taking my guns away.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In a barbershop a few blocks away from the Bastrop County Courthouse, Vicki McMillan was not quite as dismissive.</p>
<p>News of the operation worried her at first, McMillan said, but she grew more comfortable after learning more about it and talking to friends in the military.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trusting it to be what they say it is,&rdquo; she said, adding that she had yet to see a single military vehicle Wednesday. &ldquo;The way they described it, it was like going to be descending down on the town, all this militant stuff, but I haven&rsquo;t seen hide nor hair of anybody.&rdquo;</p>
Morgan SmithWed, 15 Jul 2015 20:58:55 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/15/bastrop-jade-helm-begins/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsTexas Expects Another Win Against Obama's Immigration Planhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/10/state-hopes-stay-undefeated-against-obama-immigrat/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>Attorneys for the Obama administration will try again on Friday to persuade a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans&nbsp;to let a controversial immigration policy take effect.</p>
<p>But supporters of the program, which would have shielded the bulk of Texas' 1.6 million undocumented immigrants from deportation,&nbsp;aren't optimistic. That's&nbsp;because two of the three judges selected to hear this week's arguments already weighed in once &mdash;&nbsp;refusing in May to overrule&nbsp;Brownsville-based federal judge Andrew Hanen, who&nbsp;halted the president's&nbsp;measure in February.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Obama's immigration policy, announced in November and&nbsp;known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA,&nbsp;would have allowed some 5 million undocumented immigrants nationwide to&nbsp;apply for a work permit if they passed background checks, steered clear of trouble and paid back taxes and fines.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In December, Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a> &mdash; then the state's attorney general &mdash;&nbsp;sued the Obama&nbsp;administration, arguing that the president had&nbsp;overstepped his authority by circumventing Congress and taking immigration reform&nbsp;matters into his own hands. Twenty-five other states have since joined the lawsuit against the federal government.</p>
<p>Current Attorney General <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ken Paxton</a>, whose office is now handling the case, said in a statement that he is confident Texas will go three for three in its legal battle with the White House over the immigration program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Obama administration unilaterally rewrote the law, creating an amnesty program that will reward people who are here illegally with free government benefits,&rdquo; Paxton said. &ldquo;The district court rightly stopped this program in its tracks, and we will continue fighting President Obama&rsquo;s disregard for the rule of law.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Friday&rsquo;s arguments come roughly three months after attorneys for the U.S.&nbsp;Justice&nbsp;Department asked the 5th Circuit Court to lift Hanen&rsquo;s order, allowing the immigration measure to take effect&nbsp;while the issue played out in the courts. They argued then that&nbsp;the Texas-led coalition of states&nbsp;didn&rsquo;t have standing to sue to block the program.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">But Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller, who will be arguing on behalf of the state on Friday, has&nbsp;said Texas would suffer harm because it would have to educate and provide health care for the immigrants who remain here under Obama's program. The state would&nbsp;also incur costs for having to issue some driver&rsquo;s licenses, he has argued.</span></p>
<p>Attorneys for the state go in with the upper hand this week, considering the fact that two of the judges denied the Obama administration's initial request in May. At the time, they ruled that &ldquo;the [federal] government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its appeal.&rdquo;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">Like they did ahead of the last set of arguments before the 5th Circuit, supporters of Obama&rsquo;s plan will rally in New Orleans on Friday to draw attention to what they say is needed&nbsp;immigration reform. Mary Moreno, the communications director for the Texas Organizing Project, a group of activists who support the president's initiative, said some 150 supporters from Texas will join forces with advocates from across the country.</span></p>
<p>&ldquo;Our main objective in making the trip is t0 continue putting the blame for this delay where it belongs, with Gov. Abbott,&rdquo; she said in an email. &ldquo;He is responsible for keeping our families in danger of deportation and separation.&rdquo;</p>
Julián AguilarFri, 10 Jul 2015 06:00:00 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/10/state-hopes-stay-undefeated-against-obama-immigrat/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsMexican Official: Border Security a "Shared Responsibility"http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/10/jose-antonio-meade-kuribrena-tt-interview/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>During a visit to Texas this week, Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary&nbsp;<span>Jos&eacute; Antonio Meade Kuribre&ntilde;a met Thursday with Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a> at the Governor's Mansion, where an Abbott spokesperson said they discussed&nbsp;<span>border security, infrastructure and trade</span>. Abbott said at a news conference that he had also accepted Meade's invitation to visit Mexico.</span></p>
<p><span>Meade, who previously served as a&nbsp;<span>secretary of energy and secretary of finance under former Mexican President Felipe Calder&oacute;n,</span>&nbsp;also visited the University of Texas at Austin, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/09/ut-mexico-sign-deal-collaborate-research/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections" target="_blank">where a deal was signed</a> to allow&nbsp;top science and technology researchers to work temporarily at the university.</span></p>
<p>On Thursday, Meade spoke to The Texas Tribune about border economics and security, immigration, and the need for Texas and Mexico to keep their relationship strong in the face of changing dynamics on both sides of the Rio Grande.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">The following is an edited and condensed transcript of the interview.</span></p>
<p><strong>Texas Tribune:</strong> Newly appointed Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos has<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/21/sos-cascos-ready-move-past-voter-id-partisan-issue/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">&nbsp;been</a> to Mexico City. It was deemed as an important step to ensure ties between Mexico and Texas remain strong. But Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a>, as attorney general,&nbsp;has been a leader in the charge against the president&rsquo;s immigration action, which would have benefited hundreds of thousands of Mexicans. Is there any tension there [between you and the governor]?</p>
<p><strong>Meade Kuribre&ntilde;a:</strong> First, there are very few relationships as important to Mexico as the one that we have with Texas. To put it in perspective, the U.S. trades with Great Britain less than Mexico trades with Texas. So for us it&rsquo;s important to take advantage of the signals that have been sent by this new administration. One of those important issues has to do with migration. We feel that the closer the gap between the rights of the immigrants and the rights of the citizens, the better it will be for those immigrants to have a better relationship where they are living now, and even the country of their origin.</p>
<p><strong>TT:</strong> Former Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Rick Perry</a> said that you can&rsquo;t have a discussion about immigration reform without border security. He was also critical of Mexico during last summer&rsquo;s migration surge, saying it didn't do enough to prevent Central Americans from breaching its border. Do you think Mexico has taken steps in the right direction? Or do you think that criticism was warranted?</p>
<p><strong>Meade:</strong> We think that border security is a shared responsibility. And we think that border security has to be looked at from a joint perspective. And we think it needs to be addressed from that perspective, and that is something that we have recognized for a long time. The border has many elements to it. If viewed as a single economic region, it is very dynamic and very important, and it would be the fourth-largest economic region in the world. Mexico is doing what needs to be done in terms of security in our side, and we are committed to continuing doing it.</p>
<p><strong>TT:</strong> Migration from Mexico is at net zero, or perhaps even more people are returning than coming &hellip;</p>
<p><strong>Meade:</strong> It has been zero or negative since 2010.</p>
<p><strong>TT:</strong> Mexico also has, according to <em><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/doliaestevez/2015/03/03/with-carlos-slim-leading-the-way-mexicos-billionaires-have-a-better-year/">Forbes</a>,</em> 16 of the richest people on Earth. Collectively they are responsible for 11.5 percent of the country&rsquo;s economy. Is seems like there is a small percent that owns a lot. And a large percent that don&rsquo;t have a lot.</p>
<p><strong>Meade:</strong> Not just in Mexico, but in Latin America, you have an important challenge with inequality. Collectively, we have done a good job of lifting people out of poverty. But the challenge of inequality is still very much present, even though as a region inequality has been trending downward in Latin America. But inequality is also an issue in the United States, so I think that from a policy perspective it&rsquo;s a challenge that we both face. We think we have done a good job in terms of security but also in creating more opportunities. The [energy and education] reforms are now being implemented and showing results and promise. So we think that the trends we have seen should probably continue.</p>
<p><strong>TT:</strong> Next year, there is a presidential election in this country. We&rsquo;re all familiar with Donald Trump&rsquo;s statements and what he said about Mexico. Former Gov. Perry said that was <a href="http://radio.foxnews.com/2015/07/09/rick-perry-donald-trump-is-disrespectful-to-mexicans-mexican-americans-2/">inappropriate</a>. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said Trump has a right to say what he thinks and he should be praised for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-defends-donald-trump-2015-6">bringing the issue</a> of illegal immigration to the forefront. Do you have any comments on Trump's statements?</p>
<p><strong>Meade:</strong> When in politics, any time that you bring prejudice, racism and just plain ignorance, it&rsquo;s not a good mix.</p>
<p><strong>TT:</strong> Is President Enrique Pe&ntilde;a Nieto&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27402388">security plan working</a>? Because it seems to be that folks in the Rio Grande Valley don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s working in <a href="http://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/plan-tamaulipas-new-security-strategy-for-troubled-state">Tamaulipas</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Meade:</strong> If you put Mexico in order by level of violence, you see a picture on two levels. On the absolute level, you have regions in the country that are very stable and at peace. You have some parts of the country where the levels are comparable to what you see to Detroit or New Orleans or New Jersey. On average, Mexico, having seen the peak of violence in 2011, is now exactly at the Latin American average. That places us a little bit above Ecuador and a little bit below Panama. Last year, more than two-thirds of the states observed a decrease in the level of violence, and those were the states where about 80 percent of the population lived. What we are doing in Tamaulipas is what we did in Ciudad Ju&aacute;rez, and what we have done in every single one of these states: reinforce the local capacity with federal intervention.</p>
<p><strong>TT:</strong> There was a recent development announced that Mexico would allow U.S. agents to <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/09/us-reps-arming-american-agents-mexico-right-move/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">carry arms</a> in trade and immigration zones. What led to that change?</p>
<p><strong>Meade:</strong> A recognition that we&rsquo;re able to look at North America as one region. One way to make that view operational was to be able to do preclearance of people and cargo. That required us to be able to provide reciprocity in terms of the agents that are going to do that.</p>
<p><strong>TT:</strong> Do you have an early endorsement of any of the candidates running for U.S. president?</p>
<p><strong>Meade:</strong> No.</p>
<p><em>Ally Mutnick contributed to this report.</em></p>
<p><em>Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.&nbsp;</em><i>A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&nbsp;</i><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><i>here</i></a><i>.</i></p>
Julián AguilarFri, 10 Jul 2015 06:00:00 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/10/jose-antonio-meade-kuribrena-tt-interview/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsDemocrats Ask Abbott for Task Force on Confederate Monumentshttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/06/democrats-want-task-force-confederate-monuments/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p dir="ltr"><sub><span>Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from Texas House Speaker Joe Straus.</span></sub></p>
<p dir="ltr">On the same day that the South Carolina Legislature <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/us/south-carolina-capitol-confederate-battle-flag.html?_r=0"><span>voted to remove</span></a> the Confederate flag from its Capitol grounds, five&nbsp;Democratic lawmakers asked Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a> to consider the appropriateness of the Confederate monuments at their own Capitol.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In a letter sent Monday to Abbott, Lt. Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/dan-patrick/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Dan Patrick</a> and House Speaker <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/joe-straus/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Joe Straus</a>, Democrats in the House and Senate asked for the creation of a task force to consider whether the numerous Confederate monuments, markers and statutes on the Capitol grounds are &ldquo;historically accurate, whether they are appropriately located on the Capitol grounds, and whether any changes are needed.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The letter was signed by state Sen. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rodney-ellis/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Rodney Ellis</a> and state Reps. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/senfronia-thompson/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Senfronia Thompson</a> and <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/sylvester-turner/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Sylvester Turner</a>, all Houston Democrats; state Sen. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/royce-west/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Royce West</a>, D-Dallas; and state Sen. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/judith-zaffirini/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Judith Zaffirini</a>,&nbsp;D-Laredo.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;As these debates play out across our country and state, we ask you to consider the Texas Capitol itself: the building in which we have the honor of working on behalf of all Texans,&rdquo; the letter reads. &ldquo;The Texas Capitol grounds feature numerous monuments dedicated to the Confederacy, many of which espouse a whitewashed version of history.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p>Requests for comment from Abbott and Patrick were not returned.</p>
<p>A spokesman for Straus said the speaker "looks forward to visiting with these legislators about their concerns and would welcome a discussion with them and others about all monuments on the grounds of the Capitol."</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2012/05/09/interactive-map-capitol-confederate-markers/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">more than a dozen markers</a> on the Capitol grounds that overtly reference the Confederacy, according to the State Preservation Board. Those include a Confederate Soldiers&rsquo; Monument on the south grounds and several portraits that hang in the Capitol chambers.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In the letter, the lawmakers cited the need to assess certain markers &mdash; including a plaque in a first-floor corridor of the Capitol honoring the &ldquo;Children of the Confederacy&rdquo; &mdash; that &ldquo;assert the outright falsehood&rdquo; that the Civil War &ldquo;was not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The lawmakers asked that the task force be made up of business, religious and education leaders to allow for a &ldquo;serious conversation about how best to honor Texas' heritage and past &ndash; while at the same time ensuring historical accuracy and that we celebrate figures worthy of our praise.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Momentum around the removal of Confederate monuments and symbols across the South </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/23/us/Calls-to-Cut-Ties-to-Symbols-of-the-South.html?action=click&amp;contentCollection=U.S.&amp;module=RelatedCoverage&amp;region=Marginalia&amp;pgtype=article"><span>has picked up</span></a><span> since the fatal shootings last month of nine people inside a historic black church in South Carolina. The man charged in the shootings, Dylann Roof, was reportedly influenced by white supremacists and posed with the Confederate flag in photos.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"The State Capitol is the public face of Texas, and as such it should be equally welcoming to all Texans," the lawmakers wrote. "Texas should add its voice to the states across the country already thoughtfully discussing whether state governments should laud the Confederacy and the fundamental wrong of one human owning another."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The request to the governor comes two weeks after the University of Texas at Austin </span><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/23/confederate-statues-vandalized-ut-campus/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><span>announced the formation</span></a><span> of a task force to consider the future of Confederate statues on campus.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Additionally, </span><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/01/majority-minority-schools-confederate-names/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><span>28 public schools in Texas</span></a><span> are also named after Confederate leaders, which have prompted cries for change from civil rights groups, some school leaders and parents.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.&nbsp;A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">here</a>.</em></p>
Alexa UraMon, 06 Jul 2015 16:52:23 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/06/democrats-want-task-force-confederate-monuments/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsGay Couple Suing Hood County Gets Marriage Licensehttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/06/gay-couple-sues-hood-county-clerk-over-marriage-li/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p><sub>Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comment.</sub></p>
<p>A Granbury gay couple on Monday obtained a&nbsp;marriage license from the Hood County Clerk's office after&nbsp;filing a lawsuit against the clerk&nbsp;in federal court.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;"><span>But attorneys representing Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton, who have been together for 27 years, said the couple&nbsp;will move forward with their lawsuit until the county clerk's office agrees to issue marriage licenses to all couples.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">"Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton are delighted that they finally have been issued a marriage license and can get married in their home county," the gay couple's attorneys, Jan Soifer and Austin Kaplan,&nbsp;said in a statement. "It&rsquo;s a shame that they needed to hire lawyers and file a lawsuit to make that happen."</span>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Hood County Clerk's office would not&nbsp;say&nbsp;whether it is issuing same-sex marriage licenses and referred questions&nbsp;regarding the licenses&nbsp;to&nbsp;County Clerk Katie Lang's&nbsp;personal attorneys.</p>
<p>Lang's lawyers at the Liberty Institute, which specializes in religious freedom litigation, said the clerk's office was unable to issue the license on Thursday "because of software issues" and "lack of guidance" from the county attorney on using existing forms.&nbsp;<strong><br /></strong></p>
<p>Hood County Attorney Lori Kaspar said Lang did not ask her opinion regarding the use of existing forms until Friday via email, but the county was closed for the holiday.</p>
<p>"Early this morning, I advised Lang to write the information into the license by hand using the existing form, which she did," Kaspar said.</p>
<p>"The Clerk&rsquo;s office was unable to issue a license at close of business&nbsp;<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1363121783">on Thursday</span>, even though everyone left with the understanding that one would be immediately available on the next business day," said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at the Liberty Institute.&nbsp;"The office was closed&nbsp;<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1363121784">Friday</span>. This morning, as of about&nbsp;<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1363121785">8:00 a.m.</span>, there is a marriage license waiting for the couple that has, for some reason, sued Hood County."<strong><br /></strong></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth, Cato and Stapleton</span>&nbsp;told the court that Lang had violated the couple's constitutional rights by refusing to issue them a marriage license despite the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex marriages are <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/supreme-court-ruling-gay-marriage/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">protected by the U.S. Constitution</a>.</p>
<p><span>In a June 26 ruling, the high court found that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry and that states must license a marriage between two people of the same sex, overriding the state's longstanding ban on same-sex marriage.</span></p>
<p>Citing her religious beliefs, Lang initially said her office would not grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She also pointed to an <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/28/paxton-county-clerks-can-deny-same-sex-marriage-li/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">opinion written</a> by Texas Attorney General <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ken Paxton</a> in which he stated that c<span>ounty clerks in Texas who have religious objections to same-sex marriage can opt out of issuing such licenses &mdash; though he warned them they could face litigation.</span></p>
<p>Lang <a href="https://www.co.hood.tx.us/index.aspx?nid=211">then said</a> she would "personally refrain" from issuing them&nbsp;<span>but that&nbsp;</span><span>other members of her staff would grant the licenses once "the appropriate forms have been printed and supplied to my office."</span></p>
<p>Cato and Stapleton's first attempt to obtain a marriage license was on June 29, according to the complaint. After they were unsuccessful, Soifer and Kaplan sent <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/02/gay-couple-sue-hood-county-clerk-over-marriage-lic/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">a letter to Lang on Thursday</a>&nbsp;<span>demanding that her office issue the couple a marriage license by the end of the business day or risk being sued in federal court Monday morning.</span></p>
<p><span>By Thursday afternoon, the couple was still unable to obtain a marriage license.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>The gay couple's attorneys contend that the marriage license is gender neutral because it includes two&nbsp;blanks for the names of the applicants &mdash; one of which is preceded by "Mr." and the other with the letter "M."</span></p>
<p><span><span>"It is clear that the reason provided by Clerk Lang is simply a pretext for her to violate Jim and Joe&rsquo;s constitutional right to marriage and to delay issuing a license," the attorneys wrote in their complaint.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Lang's office eventually issued the couple a marriage license "</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.35;">in handwriting on the existing license form, which proves that County Clerk Lang easily could have complied with the law without waiting ten days," the couple's attorneys said.</span></p>
Alexa UraMon, 06 Jul 2015 11:27:27 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/06/gay-couple-sues-hood-county-clerk-over-marriage-li/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsAnalysis: For Paxton, a Bumpy Start on the Big Stagehttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/02/analysis-paxton-bumpy-start-big-stage/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>Average citizens have no idea who currently serves as attorney general of Texas.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s an occupational hazard. Most politicians are relatively unknown. Only a sustained period on the center stage &mdash; a long tenure as governor, say, or the presidency &mdash; can turn a civic personality into a celebrity. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a>, for instance, is a much more familiar name now that he is governor, even though he was the longest-serving attorney general in state history.</p>
<p>Great achievements can help. Sustained public failures can do it. Infamy works, too.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ken Paxton</a>, the name most people couldn&rsquo;t supply for the first sentence above, is still making first impressions even though he&rsquo;s a statewide elected official. The McKinney Republican succeeded Abbott as attorney general this year. Paxton was a state representative, a candidate for speaker of the House in 2011, and was elected to the state Senate in 2012.</p>
<p>But if you&rsquo;ve heard much about him lately, it was either because of his <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/28/paxton-county-clerks-can-deny-same-sex-marriage-li/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">advice</a> to county officials last week on how to handle gay marriage applications (something he wants to be talking about) or because of an <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/01/potential-case-against-paxton-appears-grow-serious/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">investigation</a> into whether he violated financial securities laws (something he no doubt wishes had ended with his election).</p>
<p>It didn&rsquo;t end: The special prosecutors handling that case will take their evidence to a grand jury this month. One of them, Kent Schaffer, <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/01/potential-case-against-paxton-appears-grow-serious/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">told</a> The Texas Tribune they are seeking first-degree felony charges against Paxton. If the grand jury agrees, the state&rsquo;s top lawyer could find himself on trial in criminal court.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s not necessarily a career-ender. In fact, it happened 32 years ago when the late <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/jim-mattox/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Jim Mattox</a>, a Dallas Democrat, was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/14/us/texas-attorney-general-indicted-for-bribery.html">charged</a> with commercial bribery. Some of the parallels are noteworthy: Though they came from opposite ends of the political spectrum, Mattox, like Paxton, was something of an irritant to his party&rsquo;s establishment. Both were in the first months of their first terms. Both professed their innocence.</p>
<p>Paxton can hope the parallels continue. Mattox was acquitted, won re-election in 1986 and made it into a runoff for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1990 (he lost to Ann Richards). His two comeback attempts &mdash; a 1994 race for U.S. Senate and a 1998 race for attorney general &mdash; both fell short.</p>
<p>That wasn&rsquo;t the career ending he wanted, but it beats prison.</p>
<p>The next Texas attorney general, <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/dan-morales/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Dan Morales</a>, <a href="http://lubbockonline.com/stories/072003/sta_0720030080.shtml#.VZWkURNVhBc">went to federal prison</a> in 2003 on charges that developed from an investigation of his handling of a multibillion-dollar settlement between the state and several big tobacco companies. Morales had fallen short in the 2002 race for governor, losing to Democrat <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/tony-sanchez/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Tony Sanchez</a> (who in turn lost to Republican <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Rick Perry</a>); his conviction cost him any chance at a political comeback after that.</p>
<p>Texas is full of voters who can&rsquo;t remember either of those guys. Morales&rsquo; gubernatorial effort never got enough wind in its sails to capture much public attention, and by the time he was under investigation and convicted and imprisoned, he had become a political footnote. As many people know his name for the crimes he committed as for his public service.</p>
<p>The Mattox affair was three decades ago, for one thing, and while his later races generated lots of headlines and notoriety &mdash; especially that 1990 primary and runoff for governor &mdash; he had settled into the role of private lawyer and family man by the time he died in 2008.</p>
<p>He managed to outlive his indictment and is better known as a political scrapper of the first order.</p>
<p>The best outcome for Paxton would be a grand jury deciding not to indict &mdash; effectively saying he did not break the law. He&rsquo;d be able to declare the entire episode a political concoction served up by his enemies &mdash; a standard line when politicians find themselves in the dock. A spokesman primed the pump on Thursday, calling the investigation &ldquo;a politically motivated effort to ruin the career of a longtime public servant.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The worst outcome would be an indictment, a conviction and a tough penalty. Punishments for first-degree felony convictions range from five years to 99 years or life in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. That would be the end of the political line.</p>
<p>Even that &ldquo;best&rdquo; outcome bears thorns. Without the legal entanglements, Paxton could be toiling away at one of the most powerful posts in the state government, building his reputation and continuing on what has been a steady climb up the political food chain.</p>
<p>Instead, the attorney general is playing defense, trying to keep his reputation intact, and hoping that if he becomes known to most Texans, it will be for something other than his rap sheet.&nbsp;</p>
Ross RamseyThu, 02 Jul 2015 16:55:26 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/02/analysis-paxton-bumpy-start-big-stage/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsWith Marriage Decided, Adoption Rights Nexthttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/30/despite-ruling-same-sex-adoptions-still-question/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p dir="ltr"><span>Cleopatra De Leon and Nicole Dimetman didn&rsquo;t want to be faces of the fight for same-sex marriage in Texas.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>But the Austin couple, married in Massachusetts in 2009, jumped into the fray when they realized that &mdash; because Texas law did not recognize their marriage &mdash; both of their names could not be listed on the birth certificate of their first child. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has </span><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/supreme-court-ruling-gay-marriage/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><span>legalized same-sex marriage</span></a><span> nationwide, De Leon and Dimetman's marriage is valid before the state. But with a 3-year-old son and a new baby girl at home, the couple isn&rsquo;t done fighting just yet.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;Even though we&rsquo;re equal in marriage, we&rsquo;re not necessarily equal under the family law,&rdquo; said De Leon, who on Friday adopted the child Dimetman gave birth to three months ago. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a whole tangle of family code laws that need to be advocated against.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">Before the court's decision, gay couples in Texas faced a labyrinth of legal obstacles when they had or adopted children, and some could secure only limited parental rights. With same-sex marriage legal, most presume that streamlined, consistent parental rights will follow.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But it's unclear how long that will take, and whether more litigation will be needed.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Texas birth certificates only&nbsp;allow for a mother and a&nbsp;father to be listed.&nbsp;That means, for instance, when a woman has a child, her same-sex spouse is not automatically listed on the birth certificate &mdash; and considered the child's parent &mdash; as a male spouse would be. The non-biological parent has to adopt the child later to gain parental rights.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Same-sex couples adopting&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.35;">a child run into the state's requirements for supplemental&nbsp;</span>birth certificates, which are issued to establish parental rights for adopters. Texas supplemental certificates allow for two parents to be listed, "one of whom must be a female, named as the mother, and the other of whom must be a male, named as the father." As a result, only one parent is listed for same-sex couples.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Department of State Health Services has already modified marriage licenses to accommodate same-sex couples, but a spokeswoman for the department said it is analyzing what to do about birth certificates in light of the high court&rsquo;s decision.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;We are reviewing the ruling to determine what, if any, changes will be needed to our forms or processes relating to issues other than marriage applications,&rdquo; said the department's&nbsp;Carrie Williams.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Family law attorneys who handle same-sex adoptions aren&rsquo;t hopeful the matter will be easily resolved, predicting it&rsquo;ll take a legal challenge to force the state to modify the birth certificates.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Suzanne Bryant &mdash; who with her wife </span><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/19/travis-county-gay-couple-becomes-first-wed-texas/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><span>obtained a marriage license</span></a><span> before the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage &mdash; hopes state leaders will see the &ldquo;writing on the wall,&rdquo;&nbsp;but anticipates a lawsuit challenge before the birth certificate limitations are removed.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;It is unfair to discriminate against children and not let them have an accurate birth certificate,&rdquo; Bryant said. &ldquo;I just hope that it happens quickly because there will be children that will be harmed by inaccurate birth certificates.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>It is </span><a href="http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Census2010Snapshot_Texas_v2.pdf"><span>estimated</span></a><span> that 9,191 same-sex couples in Texas are raising children, according to the Williams Institute, a nonpartisan think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Dallas family law attorney Susan Vrana said she expected the state's top elected officials, including Gov. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a> and Attorney General <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ken Paxton</a>, both Republicans, to provide leadership on the issue. (Paxton, a conservative who staunchly opposes same-sex marriage, has said county clerks with religious objections can opt out of issuing marriage licenses.)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping that good judgment and good lawyering by the attorney general and the governor will&rdquo; resolve the issue, Vrana said.&nbsp;</span><span>&ldquo;We all live in hope that they&rsquo;ll put their lawyer hats on and remember their oath.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Abbott and Paxton's offices did not respond to requests for comment.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The supplemental birth certificate problem<strong>&nbsp;</strong>is one Democratic state Rep. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rafael-anchia/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Rafael Anchia</a> of Dallas has attempted to address for years.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>For four consecutive legislative sessions, Anchia filed a bill that would allow same-sex couples to both be listed as adoptive parents of a child. His measure, which </span><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/21/gay-rights-activists-find-unlikely-ally-republican?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><span>picked up Republican support</span></a><span> this year, would remove the gender-specific language, which was added to supplemental birth certificates in 1997. </span></p>
<p>After an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECktJ5fPac">emotional plea by Anchia</a> on the House floor earlier this year, the bill was voted out of committee for the first time.&nbsp;It was placed on the House&rsquo;s calendar for consideration, but it eventually died against a legislative deadline.</p>
<p>On Monday, Anchia renewed his push for gender-neutral birth certificates for adoptees, asking the department of health services in a letter to modify the forms.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;Now that marriage is allowed for same-sex couples in Texas, they should enjoy the full canopy of rights&nbsp;</span>and those rights include parentage and parentage is evidenced, especially in the adoption context, in the birth certificate,&rdquo; Anchia said in an interview.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>If the state refuses to change the supplemental birth certificates and a lawsuit doesn&rsquo;t resolve the issue, Anchia said he plans to file his bill when the Legislature reconvenes in January 2017.</span></p>
<p>Though they&rsquo;re hoping to avoid another lawsuit, that wait for a remedy would be too long for Dimetman and De Leon.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;It can&rsquo;t come soon enough,&rdquo; Dimetman said.</span></p>
Alexa UraTue, 30 Jun 2015 06:00:00 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/30/despite-ruling-same-sex-adoptions-still-question/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsTed Cruz: "I Thought That Popularity Was the Holy Grail"http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/29/ted-cruz-book-interview/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>NEW YORK CITY &ndash; By his own telling, it&rsquo;s been a lifelong&nbsp;struggle for U.S. Sen. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ted-cruz/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ted Cruz</a> to rein in his&nbsp;self-described &ldquo;cocky&rdquo; nature.</p>
<p>In adolescence, young adulthood, and now as a junior senator running for the presidency, he has rubbed people the wrong way &ndash; and he is self-aware about it.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When I was in junior high and a geek, I thought that popularity was the Holy Grail,&rdquo; Cruz said in a New York City&nbsp;interview with The Texas Tribune about his new&nbsp;memoir, <em>A Time for Truth</em>.</p>
<p><span>&ldquo;And in high school, where I achieved some modicum of popularity, I discovered it wasn&rsquo;t all that,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;That it was far more important to stick to your principles and maintain your integrity.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p>Cruz's youthful efforts to fit in, according to his memoir, included<span style="line-height: 1.35;">&nbsp;changing his first name from from&nbsp;&ldquo;Felito&rdquo; to &ldquo;Ted&rdquo; and signing up for sports teams. It also meant downplaying his intellect by tucking his ace grades away from other kids' sight.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">He had a relatively charmed trajectory through the Ivy Leagues to a U.S. Supreme Court clerkship and onto George W. Bush&rsquo;s 2000 presidential&nbsp;campaign.&nbsp;</span>He was high enough in the food chain as a policy aide at the campaign's Congress Avenue headquarters to earn a Bush nickname, &ldquo;Theodore,&rdquo; a term of endearment for his serious nature. And as a litigating attorney, Cruz&nbsp;played&nbsp;an integral role during the 2000 Florida recount.</p>
<p>Cruz came away from the campaign experience with big dreams of serving in a senior role in&nbsp;the second Bush administration, writing in the memoir&nbsp;that he imagined himself as &ldquo;the equivalent of Michael J. Fox&rsquo;s character in The American President &ndash; the young, passionate idealist urging the president, in the heat of battle, to do the right thing.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He described being devastated when that did not come to pass. In the book, he blamed it on being "far too cocky" on the campaign, and burning "a fair number of bridges" by interjecting his opinions &mdash; to the chagrin of campaign elders.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">&ldquo;As a result, the first year of the Bush administration was one of the hardest of my life,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;But it also turned out to be one of the most important because I couldn&rsquo;t blame anyone else for my situation &ndash; if I wanted things to change I had to look inside myself.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">In many ways, Cruz&nbsp;</span>finds himself<span style="line-height: 1.35;">&nbsp;in a similarly rocky&nbsp;</span>situation<span style="line-height: 1.35;"> in the </span>U.S.&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.35;">Senate.&nbsp;</span>At least 16 times in his book&rsquo;s first 19 pages, he writes of his party&rsquo;s Senate leadership in less than flattering terms.</p>
<p>Among their perceived&nbsp;transgressions: surrendering to the Democrats, risk aversion, &ldquo;chicanery&rdquo; and caving in to President Obama.</p>
<p>This isn't just in Cruz's book; in recent weeks, he's added "Washington cartel" terminology to his campaign messaging, and appears to be&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.35;">running as much against his own party as the Democrats.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>In the Monday interview, Cruz described himself more as the recipient of fire from Senate leaders than as the one lobbing the bombs.&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.35;">But </span>his<span style="line-height: 1.35;"> criticism of &ldquo;GOP leadership&rdquo; hits close to home. The Senate&rsquo;s second-ranking Republican is Cruz&rsquo;s fellow Texas senator, Majority Whip </span><a style="line-height: 1.35;" href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/john-cornyn/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">John Cornyn</a><span style="line-height: 1.35;">.</span></p>
<p>&ldquo;John Cornyn and I are friends,&rdquo; Cruz said Monday&nbsp;when asked if he was calling out his senior senator in the memoir. &ldquo;We have a good working relationship together. We&rsquo;ve worked together for Texas on many issues, and I expect we continue to do so for years to come.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Still, he didn&rsquo;t exactly let Cornyn off the hook.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">&ldquo;When I speak about GOP leadership, that is deliberately written in the generic, rather than in individuals,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;Because it gives any individual senator the opportunity through his or her actions to behave differently. It gives the opportunity for a change of course.&rdquo;</p>
Abby LivingstonMon, 29 Jun 2015 17:51:22 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/29/ted-cruz-book-interview/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsFeds Set New Policies for LGBT Detaineeshttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/29/ice-sets-new-guidance-policies-transgender-immigra/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>Immigration and Customs Enforcement will implement new guidelines designed to better protect transgender people in immigration detention facilities, the agency&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-issues-new-guidance-care-transgender-individuals-custody">announced</a><span>&nbsp;Monday</span>.</p>
<p>The announcement comes after 35 congressional Democrats <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/27/advocates-shed-new-light-lgbt-asylum-seekers/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">wrote</a> to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson earlier this month asking ICE to change its policies toward those detainees. The lawmakers also asked ICE to collect better data on how many people flee their homelands for fear of persecution because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We want to make sure our employees have the tools and resources available to learn more about how to interact with transgender individuals and ensure effective standards exist to house and care for them throughout the custody cycle,&rdquo; Thomas Homan, executive assistant director for ICE&rsquo;s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, said in a statement.</p>
<p>According to the memorandum, ICE will now collect data on how many immigrants in its custody are transgender, and provide training and guidance to ICE officers to keep those detainees safe. ICE will also name a special coordinator to manage such issues for each of its 24 field offices.</p>
<p>Immigrant rights groups said the proposed changes don&rsquo;t go far enough, and that the agency must back up its words with deeds.</p>
<p>&ldquo;A guidance document cannot be expected to change the fact that DHS and&nbsp;ICE&nbsp;have consistently failed at maintaining a minimum of safety and dignity for transgender immigrants,&rdquo; a coalition of immigrant rights groups, including Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement and the Transgender Law Center, said in a statement.&nbsp;&ldquo;Transgender immigrants and other vulnerable populations, including mothers with their children and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer detainees, should be released from detention.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Monday&rsquo;s announcement comes a day before immigrant rights groups and LGBT supporters are scheduled to rally at the White House to protest the detention of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender immigrants in ICE facilities.&nbsp;</p>
Julián AguilarMon, 29 Jun 2015 16:44:36 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/29/ice-sets-new-guidance-policies-transgender-immigra/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsGay Rights Activists: Fight is Only Just Getting Startedhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/29/gay-activists-next-fight-discrimination-protection/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>After the U.S. Supreme Court&rsquo;s historic ruling Friday that states&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/supreme-court-ruling-gay-marriage/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">cannot ban gay marriage</a>, same-sex couples crowded into county clerks&rsquo; offices across Texas to obtain marriage licenses. And they piled into courthouses in search of judges who would marry them.</p>
<p>But on Monday, national and state gay rights leaders and the plaintiffs who sued for marriage equality convened in front of the Texas Capitol to make a different kind of vow: The fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is not over. The next frontier, they said, is pushing for&nbsp;more protections against discrimination in areas including employment and housing.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In many states, including my home state of Ohio and right here in Texas, you can get married but then suffer consequences,&rdquo; said Jim Obergefell, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/how-jim-obergefell-became-the-face-of-the-supreme-court-gay-marriage-case/2015/04/06/3740433c-d958-11e4-b3f2-607bd612aeac_story.html">lead plaintiff in the landmark case</a>&nbsp;that legalized same-sex marriage. &ldquo;You can get married and then lose your job, lose your home and so much more because we are not guaranteed nondiscrimination protections. &hellip; Friday&rsquo;s historic ruling is a victory, but it&rsquo;s just the beginning.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Obergefell was joined Monday by a coalition of from the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent LGBT civil rights organization; Democratic state Rep.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/celia-israel/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Celia Israel</a>&nbsp;of Austin; Equality Texas; two same-sex couples who filed suit over Texas&rsquo; same-sex marriage ban; and others who announced that they would be part of a statewide campaign for nondiscrimination protections.</p>
<p>Their announcement came a day after Texas Attorney General <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ken Paxton</a> <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/28/paxton-county-clerks-can-deny-same-sex-marriage-li/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">issued a written opinion</a> that county clerks in Texas who have religious objections to same-sex marriage can opt out of issuing such licenses, though they should be prepared to face fines or legal challenges.</p>
<p>Texas is a huge part of a national strategy to pursue nondiscrimination ordinances because it&rsquo;s the largest state in the country that offers no statewide protections for LGBT residents, Equality Texas executive director Chuck Smith said Monday.</p>
<p>Democratic proposals for statewide nondiscrimination laws have been non-starters in the Republican-controlled Legislature, where conservatives have&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/01/24/equal-rights-ordinance-battle-goes-statewide/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">tried to override local ordinances</a>. Among opponents of the nondiscrimination ordinances are Lt. Gov.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/dan-patrick/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Dan Patrick</a>&nbsp;and Gov.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/greg-abbott/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Greg Abbott</a>, who as the former state attorney general&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2013/09/06/abbott-attacks-san-antonio-ordinance/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">said such ordinances</a>&nbsp;violate freedom of speech and religion.</p>
<p>This has left Texas with a patchwork of local protections against discrimination in employment, housing and other public areas like buses and restaurants.</p>
<p>At least&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2013/09/18/comparing-nondiscrimination-ordinances/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">nine Texas cities with a population of more than 100,000</a>&nbsp;have passed some nondiscrimination rules or legislation.</p>
<p>For at least a decade, cities like Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth have had ordinances offering LGBT residents some degree of protection against discrimination. Houston, San Antonio and Plano joined that list in the last two years.</p>
<p>As gay rights activists push for nondiscrimination protections, Republicans have vowed not to go down without a fight,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/republicans-vow-religious-liberty-fight/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">proclaiming</a>&nbsp;that the state&rsquo;s next battlefront would be in defense of religious liberty.</p>
<p>"Our religious liberties find protection in state and federal constitutions and statutes," Paxton said in a statement Sunday on his written opinion. "While they are indisputably our first freedom, we should not let them be our last.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Paxton&rsquo;s <a href="https://cms.texastribune.org/admin/stories/story/88660/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">opinion</a> followed a <a href="http://gov.texas.gov/files/press-office/State_AgencyHeads_SCOTUS_Rulin_06262015.pdf">memo</a> by Abbott that directed heads of state agencies to &ldquo;preserve, protect, and defend the religious liberty of every Texan."</p>
<p>On Monday, the gay rights activists took a swipe at Abbott and Paxton, saying that religious liberty could not be used to keep same-sex couples from legally marrying.</p>
<p>In defending the need for more protections for LGBT residents, Mark Phariss, one of the plaintiffs in the Texas gay marriage case, likened those protections to the Americans with Disabilities Act that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities like Abbott, who has used a wheelchair since he was paralyzed from the waist down in a 1984 accident.</p>
<p>At the time of his accident, Abbott was not protected against discrimination "as a result of that disability,"&nbsp;said Phariss, who attended law school with Abbott and said he visited him in the hospital after his accident.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That has been fixed. The ADA now provides protections for Americans who are disabled, just like Greg, from being discriminated against in their workplace and in public accommodations," Phariss said. "And that is the exact same protection that we seek for ourselves &mdash; nothing more, nothing less.&ldquo;</p>
Alexa UraMon, 29 Jun 2015 12:51:12 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/29/gay-activists-next-fight-discrimination-protection/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsDemand for Bilingual 911 Services Growinghttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/28/demand-bilingual-911-services-grows-population/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p dir="ltr"><span>When El Pasoans in distress dial 911, they can ask for help in English, Spanish or both.&nbsp;</span>To better serve the predominantly Hispanic region, the city<strong>&nbsp;</strong>has required its 911 call-takers to understand<strong> &mdash;&nbsp;</strong>and clearly and concisely speak &mdash; both languages since 1989.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;When we answer the phone, we need to be able to understand what the emergency is and ask the appropriate questions to get them the help they need,"&nbsp;<span>said Monica Puga, manager of human resources for the city's </span><span>fire department.</span><br /></span></p>
<p>In an increasingly diverse state that is already majority-minority, El Paso&rsquo;s bilingual requirement is apparently<strong>&nbsp;</strong>unique.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>State officials, 911 organizations and other stakeholders were unable to identify&nbsp;another Texas city or county that requires&nbsp;call takers to be fluent in English and Spanish.&nbsp;</span>But&nbsp;as<strong>&nbsp;</strong>the state&rsquo;s demographics lean&nbsp;toward a multi-language speaking population, some big cities&nbsp;are attempting to manage an increased demand for bilingual 911 call-takers.</p>
<p>The highest need&nbsp;is likely found along the border and in urban cores like Houston and Dallas&nbsp;with&nbsp;high rates of foreign-born immigrants unlikely to be fluent English speakers, said state demographer Lloyd Potter.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Harris County &mdash; home to Houston &mdash; and Dallas County have seen explosive&nbsp;Hispanic population<strong>&nbsp;</strong>growth&nbsp;in the last five years. But the two urban cores are also home to large foreign-born populations that&nbsp;primarily speak&nbsp;foreign&nbsp;languages other than Spanish.<br /></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>As of 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 25 percent of Harris County&rsquo;s population was foreign-born. Of those, 61 percent spoke English less than &ldquo;very well.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>An estimated&nbsp;23 percent of Dallas County's<strong>&nbsp;</strong>population was foreign-born in 2013, and 63 percent of that population spoke English less than &ldquo;very well.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;You have to have [bilingual 911 call-takers] because a large percentage of people that are going to be calling aren&rsquo;t going to be able to communicate effectively in English,&rdquo; Potter said.</span></p>
<p>But adequately staffing 911 call centers after background investigations, testing and vetting is already a challenge, let alone when&nbsp;bilingual requirements are added, said Beth English, president of the Texas chapter of the National Emergency Number Association.</p>
<p>Though the state has been &ldquo;striving for years&rdquo; to increase its number of bilingual emergency operators,&nbsp;the increasing demand for Spanish-speaking 911 call-takers is much easier to meet along the border, English added.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;In places like El Paso, South Texas and areas like that, it may be a little easier because there is a wider applicant base of people that are bilingual,&rdquo; English said.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Though the state does not track how many bilingual 911 call-takers work at emergency centers, the Houston Emergency Center and Dallas Police Department say they are actively recruiting Spanish speakers.<span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span><span>Though it&rsquo;s not a hiring requirement,&nbsp;</span>Joe Laud, administration manager for the Houston Emergency Center, said most of his&nbsp;emergency telecommunicators, who answer about 9,000 calls a day, are bilingual. <span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In Dallas, the police department </span><a href="http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/dallas-911-call-center-is-hiring.html/"><span>encourages</span></a><span> bilingual applicants,&nbsp;and they are &ldquo;definitely preferred,&rdquo; but bilingual skills are not mandatory, said Sgt.<strong>&nbsp;</strong></span><span>Alejandro Coss.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Having bilingual emergency responders on hand is important, Coss said, likening the advantages</span><span>&nbsp;to the &ldquo;extremely beneficial&rdquo; connection that bilingual patrol officers can make with individuals during a moment of crisis.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In those moments of crisis, </span><span>emergency call centers without&nbsp;bilingual telecommunicators rely on Language Line, a round-the-clock, multi-language translation service that charges counties and cities by the minute.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Emergency assistance providers say it takes about 30 to 40 seconds for&nbsp;an&nbsp;English-speaking 911 operator&nbsp;to connect with a Language Line interpreter or translator on a three-way line with the caller.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">Though English-speaking emergency call-takers&nbsp;have to pinpoint what foreign language a caller may be speaking, the 911 organizations say the service<strong>&nbsp;</strong>works well despite the many languages spoken by Texas' Asian-born population<span style="line-height: 1.35;">, which has&nbsp;</span><a style="line-height: 1.35;" href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/14/report-where-texas-immigrants-are/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">more than doubled</a><span style="line-height: 1.35;"> in recent years.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>With </span><a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20120111-asian-indian-population-booming-in-dallas-fort-worth.ece"><span>booming Asian immigrant populations</span></a><span> in the Houston and Dallas areas, emergency telecommunicators there&nbsp;increasingly use Language Line to respond to calls from residents who speak Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese, among many other languages.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.35;">In the Rio Grande Valley, where&nbsp;most&nbsp;911 call-takers are bilingual<strong>, </strong>they&nbsp;often use the translation service&nbsp;to assist<strong>&nbsp;</strong>Canadian &ldquo;Winter Texans&rdquo; &nbsp;&mdash; elderly individuals who seek the warm temperatures of the border during the winter months &mdash; who&nbsp;speak French, according to Sergio Castro, 911 director of the Lower Rio Grande Development Council.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.35;">But in light of increasing demand for bilingual 911 operators, the Texas Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce &mdash; a network of back-up emergency telecommunicators &mdash; is working to beef up its ability to provide bilingual assistance to emergency centers and call centers during natural disasters or other periods during which emergency calls may spike.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>&ldquo;Who does 911 call when 911 needs help too?&rdquo; said Laura Litzerman, a regional coordinator for the task force.&nbsp;</span>The emergency task force is planning training sessions for bilingual telecommunicators in some parts of South Texas in case an emergency center in another part of the state that lacks bilingual staff needs help.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>With a growing Hispanic population, the goal, Litzerman said, is to easily dispatch bilingual emergency telecommunicators into other regions of the state</span><span> &ldquo;so that they would be trained and be able to assist in something like this.&rdquo;</span></p>
Alexa UraSun, 28 Jun 2015 06:00:00 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/28/demand-bilingual-911-services-grows-population/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsAdvocates Call for Release of Some LGBT Asylum-Seekershttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/27/advocates-shed-new-light-lgbt-asylum-seekers/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p>As millions waited this week for a landmark U.S.&nbsp;Supreme Court <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/supreme-court-ruling-gay-marriage/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">ruling</a> on gay marriage, dozens of<strong>&nbsp;</strong>LGBT immigrants sat in American detention centers after fleeing what they say is persecution in their homelands because of their sexual orientation.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">Now, a coalition of attorneys, lawmakers and immigrant rights groups are calling on the federal government to release some of the asylum-seekers, arguing they remain at risk for violence while they are locked up. The groups also want the government to collect better data that would shed </span><span style="line-height: 1.35;">more</span><span style="line-height: 1.35;">&nbsp;light on how many people are fleeing </span><span style="line-height: 1.35;">because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.35;">Opponents of releasing asylum-seekers from detention centers say such immigrants would be unlikely to show up for hearings.</span></p>
<p>The issue hit close to home for many LGBT Texans when <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/11/austin-church-offers-safe-haven-lgbt-guatemalan/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">earlier this month</a>, Sulma Franco, a lesbian from Guatemala, sought sanctuary in a Central Austin church after being denied asylum.</p>
<p>Immigration Equality, a New York-based group&nbsp;that advocates&nbsp;and provides legal services for LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants across the country, recorded more than 500 cases involving LGBT asylum-seekers from 2010 to 2014. But that number is only a fraction of the bigger picture, said Sharita Gruberg, a policy analyst with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/about/staff/gruberg-sharita/bio/">Center for American Progress.</a></p>
<p>Though immigration agents&nbsp;question asylum-seekers about their concerns, the federal government does not track the number of people seeking asylum specifically because they are LGBT.<strong><br /></strong></p>
<p>"We've been advocating for the government to collect data on this," she said. "We don't get a good picture of who's seeking protection."</p>
<p>LGBT&nbsp;asylum-seekers&nbsp;who are released from detention are likely to show up for their hearings&nbsp;because their cases have merit, said Vanessa&nbsp;Allyn, a managing attorney at <a href="http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/about">Human Rights First</a>, an advocacy group whose Houston office has secured two asylum claims for LGBT people&nbsp;in the past&nbsp;year&nbsp;and has five more pending.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The real question is: Why are we detaining these individuals in the first instance? If they can articulate a credible claim of fear on recognized grounds for protection, then they are going to show up for their hearings,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There is no reason for them to disappear into the ether of the United States. They are definitely going to come and they are going to articulate their claim and they are probably going to be granted relief.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Her confidence stems from a 1994 decision in which<strong>&nbsp;</strong>a gay Cuban man was granted asylum due to his sexual orientation. In that case, known as the Toboso-Alfonso case, then-Attorney General Janet Reno <a href="http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2012/08/14/3222.pdf">ruled</a> that the man could seek protection due to persecution in his homeland.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That was precedential in 1994, so this [protection] has been around for actually quite a while,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s binding within all the asylum courts within the United States."</p>
<p>But the ruling also prompted concerns that asylum-seekers could lie and claim LGBT status in order to gain legal residency in the United States. That concern persists today.</p>
<p>Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that seeks to limit immigration to the United States, said LGBT people, like any asylum-seekers,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>should be vetted thoroughly to weed out fraud.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s an ongoing concern across the board,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not new news; we&rsquo;ve been watching fraud in the asylum process for a long time.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Mehlman cited as proof the system is being gamed a <a href="http://judiciary.house.gov/index.cfm/2015/3/house-judiciary-committee-approves-bill-to-reform-asylum-laws">report</a> by the U.S.<strong>&nbsp;</strong>House Judiciary Committee that says the majority of asylum-seekers do not show up for their hearings.</p>
<p>Advocates have an army of Congressional Democrats on their side, however.</p>
<p>In a letter dated June 23, a group of 35 Congressional Democrats wrote to Department of Homeland of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson urging him to change current detention policies for LGBT&nbsp;people. Included on the correspondence were the signatures of U.S. Reps. <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/lloyd-doggett/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Lloyd Doggett</a>, D-Austin, <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/sheila-jackson-lee/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Sheila Jackson Lee</a>, D-Houston, <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/marc-veasey/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Marc Veasey</a>, D-Fort Worth and <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/al-green/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Al Green</a>, D-Houston.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Detention should almost never be used for vulnerable groups such as LGBT immigrants facing immigration proceedings," the letter said. "Recent surveys of jails and prisons by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that non-heterosexual detainees experience sexual assault at up to ten times the rate of heterosexual men. The situation is starker for transgender detainees.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Mehlman said he agrees that all detainees, regardless of their claims, should be treated humanely. But he<strong>&nbsp;</strong>argues there is a reason to keep them in detention.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Bottom line is there is a very valid reason,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They are not going anywhere. Whether they are LGBTQ or anyone else.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
Julián AguilarSat, 27 Jun 2015 06:00:00 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/27/advocates-shed-new-light-lgbt-asylum-seekers/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20SectionsCeremonies and Celebration as Marriages Beginhttp://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/texas-same-sex-couples-begin-marry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections
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<p dir="ltr"><span>Ingrid Ellerbee cried Friday afternoon as she exchanged vows with her partner of 17 years, Deanne Croan, at the Travis County courthouse during their impromptu wedding, one of the first same-sex marriages in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court </span><a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/supreme-court-ruling-gay-marriage/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections"><span>struck down</span></a><span>&nbsp;bans on gay marriage.</span></p>
<p>The couple has been unofficially married for 11 years, but the Austin residents said making their union official would help them take care of each other in old age.</p>
<p>"That's a big deal," Ellerbee, 54, said, "to not have to worry that if we go to visit my folks in Mississippi and end up in the hospital we don't end up in some big problem."</p>
<p>"Where they might not let us visit each other," Croan, 56, added.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Croan and Ellerbee originally planned to marry next week, but decided to marry Friday out of concern about Attorney General <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">Ken Paxton</a>&rsquo;s potential challenges to the Supreme Court&rsquo;s ruling.</p>
<p>Paxton on Thursday <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/25/paxton-county-clerks-should-wait-direction-gay-mar/?utm_source=texastribune.org&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections">asked</a> county clerks to wait until his office issued direction on how to proceed. His office had not issued a statement on the issue as of Friday evening.</p>
<p>At a press conference Friday afternoon, Neel Lane, the lawyer for the gay couples who had sued Texas over its same-sex marriage ban in a separate case, reminded public officials who have sworn oaths to uphold the state and federal constitutions that they cannot delay enforcing the ruling.&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">&ldquo;There are consequences if you deny constitutional rights to citizens who live in your state in violation of that oath,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There will be lawyers who will hold you to that oath and hold you to that duty.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Travis County clerk&rsquo;s office did not wait for guidance from Paxton&rsquo;s office and began issuing licenses to same-sex couples shortly after 10:30 a.m. Friday. Croan and Ellerbee were among the first couples to obtain a license, and the office announced it would be open for extended hours through Independence Day weekend to accommodate increased demand.</p>
<p>As of 7:30 p.m. Friday, the office <a href="https://twitter.com/TravisCoClerk/status/614593482380816384">announced</a> it had issued more than 250 marriage licenses, compared with 17 issued the day before the Supreme Court ruling.</p>
<p>In Texas, couples must wait 72 hours after obtaining a marriage license unless a judge waives their waiting period. Judges at the Travis County courthouse immediately began waiving the waiting period and marrying couples Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>Croan and Ellerbee were the first same-sex couple married by Justice of the Peace Herb Evans. The Austin natives had an excerpt from the Supreme Court&rsquo;s ruling read at their courthouse ceremony.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&ldquo;It all just came together and was perfect,&rdquo; Ellerbee said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy and thrilled to get it done.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Texas gay marriage advocates capped off a day of celebration Friday at the Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Austin. State officials, including Austin Mayor Steve Adler and state Sen. Kirk Watson, were joined by Cleopatra De Leon and Nicole Dimetman, two women who along with another gay couple became the faces of Texas&rsquo; marriage equality fight after they sued the state over its ban.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Organized by Equality Texas, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights advocacy group, the Austin event was one of several celebrating the Supreme Court&rsquo;s &ldquo;Decision Day.&rdquo; Speaking to a packed church, Adler issued a proclamation declaring June 26 a marriage equality day for the city.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In the end, today is about love wins,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What a wonderful day to be mayor of Austin, Texas.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Though they married in 2009 in Massachusetts, De Leon and Dimetman were fighting to have their union recognized in their home state of Texas. The case was pending in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals when the Supreme Court ruled bans on gay marriage were no longer constitutional.</p>
<p>In their speech, the couple urged supporters to celebrate the victory, but keep fighting to end discrimination.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to remain vigilant,&rdquo; De Leon said. &ldquo;If you find that your civil rights are being violated, don&rsquo;t roll over and be a doormat. Stand up for yourselves. That&rsquo;s what we did and look where we are today.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Organizers said couples had planned to marry at the event, and clergy were available to conduct ceremonies, but no couples requested a marriage.</p>
<p>Rev. Jayme Mathias, a school board member for the Austin Independent School District, attended the event with his fiance, Anthony Tan. The couple obtained a license Friday from the Travis County clerk&rsquo;s office, but decided to wait before having a ceremony.</p>
<p>&ldquo;By pushing it out about three weeks, that will give us time to plan a wedding,&rdquo; Mathias said, &ldquo;and to book the tickets for a honeymoon in Hawaii.&rdquo;</p>
Ally Mutnick and Sophia BollagFri, 26 Jun 2015 21:48:47 -0500http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/texas-same-sex-couples-begin-marry/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Tribune%20Feed:%20The%20Texas%20Tribune%20Sections